Middle Stone Age human teeth from Magubike rockshelter, Iringa Region, Tanzania.

Pamela R Willoughby,Chris B Stringer,Anne R Skinner,Pastory M Bushozi,Silvia M Bello,Tim Compton

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0200530

Pamela R Willoughby, Chris B Stringer + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0200530

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Abstract

In 2006, six isolated hominin teeth were excavated from Middle Stone Age (MSA) deposits at the Magubike rockshelter in southern Tanzania. They comprise two central incisors, one lateral incisor, one canine, one third premolar, and one fourth premolar. All are fully developed and come from the maxilla. None of the teeth are duplicated, so they may represent a single individual. While there is some evidence of post-depositional alteration, the morphology of these teeth clearly shares features with anatomically modern Homo sapiens. Both metric and non-metric traits are compared to those from other African and non-African dental remains. The degree of biological relatedness between eastern and southern African Stone Age hunter-gatherers has long been a subject of interest, and several characteristics of the Magubike teeth resemble those of the San of southern Africa. Another notable feature is that the three incisors are marked on the labial crown by scratches that are much coarser than microwear striations. These non-masticatory scratches on the Magubike teeth suggest that the use of the front teeth as tools included regularly repeated activities undertaken throughout the life of the individual. The exact age of these teeth is not clear as ESR and radiocarbon dates on associated snail shells give varying results, but a conservative estimate of their minimum age is 45,000 years.

Highlights

The earliest Homo sapiens skeletal remains showing a modern-looking cranial shape come from the continent of Africa and are dated between 150,000 and 200,000 years ago [127,128]
The data from Test Pit 12, 10 to 65 cm south of where the hominin teeth were found, suggests a minimal age for the 130–140 cm level of 160–180 ka, and an age for the 170–180 cm level of 280 ka. The latter age is from a single tooth fragment and clearly additional dates would be useful to rule out reworking
East African Holocene skeletal remains are described as coming from individuals who were tall and linear, while South African ones are generally small [76,77]

Summary

Introduction

The earliest Homo sapiens skeletal remains showing a modern-looking cranial shape come from the continent of Africa and are dated between 150,000 and 200,000 years ago [127,128]. Before and during this period, there is evidence of populations attributable to the lineage of Homo sapiens that lack a predominance of the derived features found in anatomically modern humans, and that we will term here archaic Homo sapiens Note that in our usage, hominin remains from the Mugharet es-Skhūl and Jebel Qafzeh represent early anatomically modern Homo sapiens, not archaic sapiens. MSA human teeth from Tanzania the Support for the Advancement of Scholarship Fund, Faculty of Arts, both at the University of Alberta.

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